Teaching kids to love books can sometimes seem hopeless. But it's actually quite simple. Start with books from the very beginning and they'll never know life without them. If you haven't done that, it's not too late to pick up the habits still applicable to take them down the path to loving books. It's never too late for teaching kids to love books. As a former nanny and current mom and homeschool teacher, I have used a variety of effective methods on a good number of children. Perhaps my experience in teaching kids to love books will help you do the same.Start in the WombTalking and reading to Baby while pregnant gives a good head start on a love for reading. It may seem silly at first thought, but your baby can hear your voice and other sounds outside the womb. Go to the library and get some great books to read to your Baby while inside the womb. You can even attend storytime. Many baby stores sell special headphones with a microphone attached made especially for parents to talk to their child while in the womb. Simply place the headphones strategically on Mom's pregnant belly and speak into the microphone. I did this with all of my children. It was fun to see and feel their kicks when myself and other family members read to them.Read to them DailyOnce a child is born, read to them daily. While they may not at first know what you are talking about, fostering a love for the written and spoken word starts with habit. By establishing a routine that includes reading books, kids will just naturally love them. Reading books together is great for bonding, enhancing imagination skills, and for relaxation modes like naptime and bedtime. Really anytime is a good time for reading books and by making that clear, you are teaching the kids to love books.Let them See You ReadIf you always insist upon the kids reading, but don't do it yourself, they may not understand the value of books. Let the kids see you with magazines and books. When it's their reading time, be sure that you read something for yourself. This may be your college textbooks, a novel, or a lifestyle or career magazine. It doesn't matter what you read, as long as they can see you also have a love for reading.Join Library Clubs and Visit Library Often

The library is an amazing resource for helping kids love books. Of course they can check out books with their very own library card. But they can also participate in storytime, reading and educational activities, and even free reading programs. Many libraries offer a special reading program during the summer that allows kids to earn prizes and awards based on the number of books they complete. Check with your local library to see what they offer.Stock Plenty of Books

Keeping plenty of books around is a must when establishing a love for reading. This can mean having a family collection or visiting the library often. Doing both is also a good idea. However, if you wish to be as earth-conscious as possible, utilize the library for as many books as possible. How the books are acquired is not as important as the fact that they are there.Play Reading Games

Comprehension is an essential part of learning and surviving in today's world. No matter what subject your child is learning, comprehension skills are vital. Comprehension skills are those that help your child to recognize and remember the important details of a story or the methods to solve a problem.

In Math, comprehension is the understanding of the mathematical process being performed to find the solution. In Reading, comprehension is the understanding of what is being read. In Science, comprehension is the understanding of what is read and also what is performed during experiments. Those are just some examples of the importance of comprehension.

Without comprehension, not much can be accomplished. Comprehension is used daily, even by the minute. In order to cook, clean, drive, or sing a song, we need to comprehend what we are doing. In order to write this article, I need comprehension. As you can see, comprehension is vital to succeed.

Here are two great activities that will help build and enhance your child's comprehension. These games were invented by me for my own children to use.

Find My Details

Materials: A book or story

Number of Players: 1 or more

Directions for sentence details: A child who is just starting to recognize details and main ideas or a child who is struggling, should start out with sentence details first.

Point to a sentence in the story. Have the child read the sentence out loud. Once the child has read the sentence, the child needs to go back and read the sentence again, this time only reading the important details aloud. If the child struggles with which words are important, explain to your child how words like and, to, but, and if are only necessary to form a sentence, but when you need to remember important details, they are not so important. For example, in thesentence "Tom ate three apples while swinging on a branch", the child would read aloud for the details: "Tom ate three apples swinging on branch". While the sentence, of course, does not make any sense, it makes the details stick out. Teach your child that when reading a sentence, they only need to remember the important details. They don't need to remember the sentence word for word.

Directions for paragraph details: The directions for the paragraph mode are the same as the sentence mode. There will just be more than one sentence to read. Start out with shorter paragraphs and progress to longer ones as your child advances.

My Amazing Mazes

In this activity, your child will look at mazes in a different way. While the goal is usually only to get to the end of the maze, this is a little different.

Materials: mazes (Mazes can be easily found and printed from the internet for free. Just do a search for "free printables mazes".) and a pencil for each player

Number of Players: 1 or more

Directions: Once each child has a maze and a pencil, you will explain this to them. Tell the children that they need to first solve the maze. Then, you will do something fun and interesting with it. Once the children have solved their mazes, tell them it's time for the fun part. Next, tell them to examine the mazes and figure out how the artist made the maze direct them the way it did. They should trace the lines with the pencil or their fingers. They should be thinking about what would have happened if the maze was drawn a different way. Ask them each individually what would happen if certain lines were taken away. Would it create a new way to solve the maze? Do this with several different sections on each child's maze. This helps to build comprehension in that it shows the child the importance of details and how and why things are done.

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Staff Authors

Lyn Lomasi & Richard Rowell are life & business partners. Owners of the Write W.A.V.E. Media network, they are your content superheroes to the rescue! Running their network, tackling deadlines single handedly, and coaching fellow writers & entrepreneurs to be thought leaders is the-ir top priority. While rescuing civilians from boring content and marketing, they conquer the world, living the RV life and making Crafts For A Purpose with their awesomely crazy family while recounting The Nova Skye Story, along with Kymani’s Travels. They also strive to one day cuddle with lions and giraffes. Until then, they’ll settle for furry rescue kitties and doggies.